Posted on 09/01/2007 7:42:52 PM PDT by JACKRUSSELL
ILLEGAL: The substance is often added to commercial ponds to protect fish from micro-organisms, but food production use is banned because of possible side effects.
Five batches of frozen shrimp from China tested positive for the banned antibiotic nitrofuran, Department of Health (DOH) officials said yesterday.
"Further importation of shrimp from China will be suspended until we are convinced that the situation has been remedied," Bureau of Food Sanitation director Cheng Huei-wen told a news conference.
Nitrofuran is sometimes added to aquaculture ponds to protect fish from harmful microorganisms. However, the use of nitrofuran in food production is banned in this country as well as many others such as the US and in the EU because of possible links with cancer and congenital birth defects.
Cheng said the DOH decided to up its inspections of Chinese seafood from 5 percent to 50 percent of all shipments in early July after quality control issues with Chinese seafood came to light in the US.
Since then, five lots of Chinese shrimp has tested positive for nitrofuran. Inspection was also stepped up for other Chinese aquaculture products but has not yet turned up incidents of products tainted with banned substances thus far.
In the five batches of shrimp that tested positive for nitrofuran, residues ranged from 1.1ppb to 39.2ppb in concentration of nitrofuran metabolites. The total amount of tainted shrimp adds up to 46,000kg.
"We will not allow Chinese shrimp to be imported until we receive a good explanation of how they will prevent nitrofuran from tainting the shrimp again," Cheng said.
Last October, the public was shocked when hairy crabs imported from China, long considered a delicacy, tested positive for nitrofuran. However, unlike last year, when tainted crabs were already sold and eaten by the time test results became public, none of the five shipments of tainted shrimp have made it to the stores.
Yang Chen-chang, a toxicologist at Taipei Veterans General Hospital, said the public should not overreact to the news.
"Of course, since nitrofuran is a banned additive, it should not be there in our food," said Yang.
"However, the concentration of nitrofuran present in recent cases, in the parts per billion range, is not really high enough for people to get worried about."
It is still legal to use nitrofuran to treat problems such as urinary tract infections, although it is rarely prescribed nowadays, Yang said.
An effective treatment dose is much higher than an average person could reasonably consume from tainted shrimp, he said.
If anyone is interested, I am attempting to start a ping list for all things (food, medications, supplements, clothing, manufactured products, pet food, pollution, etc.) “Made in China”. (I may occasionally include pings concerning products “Hecho en Mexico”, and other countries, too.)
Please FReepmail me if you would like to be on or off of the list.
"Looks like business is gonna be picking up, Sergeant Dan..."
“Made in China” ping.
Note that this is a Taiwan ban on importing Chinese shrimp, let’s see what the USDA has to say in the coming days *cough* nothing *cough*.
These are the consequences of dealing with communist and corrupt government. They don’t value their own people’s life, so why do we think that they will value ours?
My God, that country is a cesspool.
Corrupt, I can see ... as are the Chinese businesses who are selling adulterated stuff. It sounds like you would prefer that the Chinese government take a firmer hand than it is, but failing to do so doesn't really seem to be a "communist" issue, per se.
Outstanding!
I have to pay four bucks a bottle for that stuff at Walmart.
Shrimp is on the menu tomorrow for sure.
That's easy. Just get a friend at Walmart to give you a printout of their store's master inventory list.
My wife and I were talking about this issue the other day and both thought it would be great if someone started a movement to convince the big box stores that we will not buy products made in China this year at Christmas.
A letter writing campaign to Walmart, HD, Lowes, Meijer, Best Buy, Circuit City and all the rest stating that if necessary we will give money instead of gifts this year. The only way to get this stuff stopped is when the American buying public makes it known that we will no longer buy Chinese products just because they are cheaper.
I would also like to call out the conservative talk show host that talk about how good it is for America to have all this cheap stuff to buy because it keeps inflation down. For the record I am willing to spend a little more to get safe products made by American workers.
Where are the presidential candidates and why are they not talking about this?
Count me in Jack.
In the minds of the Chicom leadership the end of the uncomfortable experiment in capitalism should end much that same way as their firtation with democracy and free speech.
Keep in mind how long we've been offering to pay double for our vegetables in exchange for closing the borders, and how well that's gone.
What was your first clue?
Oh no, I prefer to see the Chinese communist regime cease to exist. Nothing works right under a communist regime except oppression. Yes, I will admit to you, that corruption is not only a communist issue.
The loss of face is becoming serious. The Chi-Coms will soon have to sink one of our carriers to recover. Then Murtha will have to insist we redeploy to Midway.
You are right! It’s time to look for quality, instead of meaningless ‘on sale’ advertisements.
I’m glad that America is finally beginning to wake up.
Congress has perpetuated this on the American people by bending to corporate lobby and negotiating horribly lopsided trade deals with little regard to Chinese mechanisms that promote product safety.
America first.
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